“Did I not tell you, Bilāl, ‘Keep watch for us until day-break’?”
Bilāl replied, “O Messenger of Allah, the same sleep that overtook you overtook me as well.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then shifted from his bivouac only a short distance away, prayed, and continued on through the remainder of the day and its night. At dawn he reached Tabūk, praised Allah and extolled Him as is His due, and then declared:

“O people, to proceed:
• The most truthful speech is the Book of Allah.
• The firmest bond is the word of God-fearing piety.
• The best religion is the creed of Abraham.
• The finest way is the way of Muḥammad.
• The most noble discourse is the remembrance of Allah.
• The most beautiful narratives are in this Qur’an.
• The best matters are those pursued with determination, and the worst matters are newly-invented ones.
• The best guidance is the guidance of the prophets.
• The most honourable death is to fall as a martyr.
• The blindest blindness is misguidance after right guidance.
• The most excellent deeds are those that bring benefit, and the soundest guidance is that which is actually followed.
• The worst blindness is the blindness of the heart.
• The upper hand is better than the lower hand.
• A little that suffices is better than an abundance that distracts.
• The worst excuse is the excuse offered when death arrives, and the worst remorse is remorse on the Day of Resurrection.
• Among the people are those who come to the Friday prayer only at its tail-end, and among them are those who remember Allah but scantily.
• One of the gravest sins is a lying tongue.
• The best wealth is self-contentment, and the best provision is God-consciousness.
• The summit of wisdom is the fear of Allah, Exalted is He.
• The finest treasure to lodge in the heart is certainty; doubt stems from disbelief.
• Wailing over the dead is a practice of the Age of Ignorance.
• Misappropriation of war-booty is heaps of Hell-fire.
• Poetry is from Satan; wine is the mother of sins; women are the snares of Satan; youth is a branch of madness.
• The worst earnings are those gained through usury, and the worst food is devouring the property of an orphan.
• The fortunate one is he who takes heed from others’ experiences, while the wretched one is he who is doomed already in his mother’s womb.
• Every one of you will end up in a plot no larger than four cubits, and the matter belongs to the Hereafter.
• The value of deeds lies in how they are sealed.
• The worst reports are fabricated reports.
• Everything that is coming is near.
• Abusing a believer is flagrant sin; fighting him is disbelief; backbiting him is an act of disobedience to Allah; the sanctity of his property is like the sanctity of his blood.
• Whoever presumptuously declares something on Allah’s behalf, Allah will expose his lie.
• Whoever seeks His forgiveness, He will forgive him.
• Whoever pardons, Allah will pardon him.
• Whoever suppresses his anger, Allah will reward him.
• Whoever endures a calamity with patience, Allah will compensate him.
• Whoever courts fame, Allah will lay him bare.
• Whoever remains patient, Allah will multiply his reward.
• Whoever disobeys Allah, Allah will punish him.

O Allah, forgive me and my community; O Allah, forgive me and my community; O Allah, forgive me and my community.”
He repeated this three times, then added, “I seek Allah’s pardon for myself and for you.”

This ḥadīth is singular in its wording, contains some objectionable elements, and its chain of transmission is weak. Allah knows best what is correct.

Abū Dāwūd said: Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Hamdānī and Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd both related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, from Muʿāwiyah, from Saʿīd ibn Ghazwān, from his father: He stopped at Tabūk while performing the ḥajj and found a man who was crippled. He asked him about his condition, and the man said, “I will tell you a report, so do not relate it while you know I am alive. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ camped at Tabūk beneath a date-palm and said,
‘This is our qiblah,’ then prayed toward it.
I approached—being a youth who could run—and passed between him and the tree, whereupon he said:
‘He has cut off our prayer; may Allah cut off his steps.’
From that day to this I have never stood upon my legs.”

Abū Dāwūd also narrated it, through Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Tanūkhī, from a client of Yazīd ibn Numrān, from Yazīd ibn